It was a humid summer evening in Sichuan Province in July, 1992, at a small birthday party in an athletes' dormitory at Chengdu Amateur Sports School. A nine-year-old girl, named Zheng Jie, host of the party, whispered to her roommates: "Let me tell you my birthday wish - I want to win an Olympic gold medal."

The dream, however, was considered ridiculous even 10 years ago when tennis was viewed as little more than a luxury pastime for wealthy people.

But 15 years later, after the sport has shot to the top of the nation's sporting interests, Zheng, who partners with doubles' ace Yan Zi, is closer to her childhood dream.

"No matter how many titles I win on the WTA Tour, the Olympics is my No 1 target," said Zheng after leading China into the Fed Cup semifinals in Beijing last month. "Nothing could be compared with this - to stand on the Olympic tennis court and compete for my country, I have been dreaming about it for years."

Chinese player Li Na returns a shot during the China Open in Beijing in 2006.

So far this year Zheng and her teammates have yet to display the form that helped them win the Australian and Wimbledon Open titles in 2006, but with China's No 1 singles player Li Na returning to the national team, officials are optimistic about the country's goal of winning medals in both singles and doubles.

"It is not a goal if you can reach it easily," said Gao Shenyang, vice-president of Chinese Tennis Association. "Li's comeback gives us a lot of confidence to realize our expectations."

The 25-year-old Li, who underwent surgery on her right knee in Germany in late April, returned to action at the Eastbourne Open, a warm-up event for the Wimbledon Open this week, where she was knocked out in the second round by Russian Nadia Petrova 2-6, 7-6(5), 3-6.

"I feel OK this time," said Li. "I am happy to see I am still able to make some troubles for Petrova, because she is one of the best players in the world. I am also happy to see myself healthy again just two months ahead of the Olympics.

"I will try to recover step by step to regain my fitness, strength and speed. I have 50 days to prepare for the Games so I think time is not a problem."

For Li, the next and only tournament ahead of the Games is the Wimbledon Open that gets underway on Monday, and she will return to China with the national team for a month-long closed-door training camp in Beijing. Her best result in Wimbledon was a quarterfinal finish in 2006.

The current world No 48, who has beaten a number of elite players, including Jelena Jankovic, Elena Dementieva and Kim Clijsters, is China's best hope to win a singles medal at the Games.

And despite a podium finish being a long shot, Li is confident of success.

"Our target is to win medals on both singles and doubles events at the Games - we will fight for it," she said. "We've already showed our depth on the Tour; Zheng Jie and Yan Zi also have defeated top players in major tournaments, so I won't say it is a goal that is out of reach for us."

Apart from Li's return, Gao has something else to cheer for, knowing all his five players have officially secured Olympic berths.

The International Tennis Federation (ITF) announced on Sunday that China is permitted to field a full team for the Games with two doubles pairs of Zheng and Yan and the Australian and Wimbledon doubles titlists Peng Shuai and Sun Tiantian, and Li making China's Olympic lineup.

Li and Peng, who is currently ranked 52nd, will play singles matches.

Officials are delighted but admit the team has yet to find its best form.

"Getting the tickets means the first step toward the Games is successful," said Gao Shenyang, vice-president of Chinese Tennis Association. "We were worried about that before the French Open a bit, but now we feel kind of relieved because good results will be out of question if you cannot send your best players to the Games.

"But the entrances do not guarantee anything. Our players are not playing at their best level right now and we have yet to see any sparkling show like what they did over the past two years."

The two pairs were both ousted in the third round of French Open last month and Zheng was the best singles performer, also making it to the third round. Peng lost in the second round and Yan, No 42, bowed out in the first.

"We want them to focus on the ball and forget about those pressure thing," said Gao. "That's why we will let them return right after the Wimbledon Open and take the close-door training.

"The pressure on their shoulders is too much, so to reduce some media exposure and keep them away from attention for a while will be helpful to their final preparation for the Olympics."

(China Daily June 23, 2008)